F Stop
by Sorida
Summary: A year after Wheatley returns to Earth, everything is falling apart. Chell and Wheatley's friendship wears thin as GLaDOS struggles to control the facility. When an old rat returns, the stakes are higher and someone may not make it out alive.
1. Prologue

_Summary: One year after Wheatley's return to Earth, life is pretty much back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be with a personality core in your life. Within that time period, Chell and Wheatley have grown apart and their friendship is deteriorating. Back at Aperture Science, GLaDOS continues running her Cooperative Testing Initiative until she notices personality cores disappearing left and right. Looking into the matter, she discovers people long dead walking around outside in the city. To investigate, she forces Chell and Wheatley back for one more "favor," failure in doing so within the two week deadline will result in Wheatley's detonation. Just for fun, GLaDOS decides to switch the dialogue roles to see how the two can cope. Alongside ATLAS and P-Body, Chell and Wheatley must solve the mystery as old faces pop up in the most unexpected places. Their only clue lies in the mind of an old rat and his box._

_A/N: Here it is; the sequel to Forgiveness. If you haven't read Forgiveness, don't fret; I made this a standalone. I actually discourage you from reading Forgiveness since it's (from my own critical standpoint) an overrated piece of crap. I would compare it to Twilight, but that's a bit too harsh. Anyway, this is the only time I will actually comment on this story since I tend to go overboard with these A/Ns. If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to talk, feel free to PM me. Also, tell me how this is going; I want to make a proper sequel that I can enjoy as much as everyone else rather than becoming discouraged again and rewriting an entire story. I want to get this one right. So, sit back, relax, and read away._

**Prologue**

One week into the systems failure, nothing had come back online. That little flaw was probably due to the fact that nature and time had worn down on the facility, despite what She did to try and fix the damage. No matter, She hadn't come back online yet either, remaining comatose in that huge body of Hers. In all honesty, he didn't really care about Her condition, only of escaping.

Imagine how surprised he had been when he woke to a decrepit room, Weighted Companion Cube by his stasis-chamber. The minute he sat up, he thought it was all a dream…or life after death. But why would he be sent to the place that took his life away?

Once his cube began speaking to him, he knew he was alive and semi-well.

"Get up on the wrong side of the cryo-bed Doug?" she had asked him. Doug Rattman rubbed his eyes before replying.

"I shouldn't be alive…" he stated while running a hand through his gnarly, unkempt hair.

"But you are alive and that's all that matters. It's been three hundred years since you put the woman into the relaxation chamber."

"That long? Wow…" Rattman turned his head, trying to get a good look at his surroundings. While it didn't look as nature-worn as he expected, the room was dimly lit by the emergency lights overhead. With a more careful eye, he noticed the panels were a clean white and the floor just too clean.

"As you can probably tell, She's awake again." the cube informed him. Rattman nodded before carefully getting out of the chamber. Miraculously, all the bullet wounds inflicted by the turrets had healed without a scar. Musing on that detail for a minute, he turned his attention to the emergency lights once again.

"So…GLaDOS is offline once again." he stated, but made it sound more like a question.

"Temporarily, She'll be on soon enough."

"As of now, there's nothing stopping us from getting out of here?"

"Yes."

"And that woman escaped already?"

"Yes." Doug smiled before placing the cube on his back.

"Then we've got some work to do. Remember the old reversal equation?"

"Of course, I do. Why?"

"We're going to test it out."

"And with what?"

"A personality sphere."

"Why don't you just try it on Her?"

"I would, but Her programming is different. There's a special code for Her that's been lost through the ages. Plus, Her body's somewhere deep in the facility. Well, deeper than we can reach without the power or a pair of Long-Fall Boots. The place has been sanctioned off since the 1980s. I don't think we're getting through anytime soon."

"Alright then genius," the cube seemed to sneer, "where do you think we're going to get a personality sphere?"

"Remember our old friend Chell?"

"Yes…and this place has her written all over it, doesn't it?"

"Well, if I came out of stasis, it's obvious that she had before me…which means that some robot was overlooking the Relaxation Vaults. But She deactivated those robots and opted for overlooking the ones within the testing track."

"Well, we're not going to learn anything by just standing around, so why don't you get a move on before She comes back to kill you?"

"What do you mean by 'you get a move on?'"

"I'm a cube, not a box with legs. Now that is just a stupid idea."

"Agreed," Rattman said, walking to the left of the stasis pod he had locked himself in so many centuries ago. "So, any ideas as to what we're doing now?"

"Actually, I have been thinking something over." the cube said. "Do you remember the emergency code?"

"That depends, for undercover policemen or health inspectors?"

"No, not those emergency codes! I mean, the emergency override sequence for-"

"-the personality cores…" he finished. After a brief pause, he replied, "Yes, I do. What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking, if you could test out the override on a personality core, then maybe you could try a similar procedure on Her."

"To take Her out of control? I…you need a body…"

"Pardon?"

"You need a body for the core transfer. That information has to go somewhere and Caroline's body (albeit a myth) is lost within the depths of the facility."

"…Does it really have to be Caroline?"

"Yes. All the other personalities were only segments of a person. The only full-mind transfer was from Caroline. We'd need a completely empty mind to house Her."

"What about another personality sphere?"

"None of them would qualify. The programming has to have some purely human element to it and not be malfunctioning. Let's take the Anger Core as an example: while it exhibits and violently displays anger, it's…not compatible with Her programming. If we did a programming transfer, She'd be sent right back into that damned supercomputer."

"What about a core that was meant to be human?"

"No, the Adventure Core wouldn't work. It's too…I don't know how to describe it. Just, not good at all; the programming too hardwired into its systems. Rather than be destroyed upon entry, the supercomputer would just become a womanizing bastard. Same would go for any other core; they're too personalized. They all have some sort of 'specialty' program."

"I wasn't talking about the Adventure Core. I was referencing project F-Stop."

"…It's still here?"

"Even I don't know that."

"But it didn't work on Her the first time."

"The first time, nobody thought She would neurotoxin the place. They just plugged it into Her and believed the job to be finished. What it was really meant for-well, you know that already."

"Yes, but I thought She destroyed it."

"Wow, your memory must be failing you. It was critically damaged, but not destroyed. The system's still online."

"Ok, there's a start. Now, do we know where it is?"

"How should I know where it went? I'm a cube! With no legs! What, did you think I was going to walk around the facility without you? I can't move!"

"No need to be snippy about it."

"I'll be as snippy as I want to be! I waited well over three hundred years for you to get your sorry ass out of bed! Yeah, I'm going to be impatient!"

"Alright, I'm sorry!"

"Apology accepted…almost. Anyway, she might have it."

"GLaDOS?"

"No, that testing lady! She escaped the facility, so maybe she took it with her."

"Let me check the storage room first, just to be sure."

"I don't get you. An opportunity to escape arises out of thin air and you go to check the Personality Core Storage Room."

"If it's not in there, we could try transferring the personalities back to their original owners, just to make sure the Emergency Coding is still intact."

"Whatever you say genius." Doug ignored the sarcasm-rich statement from the cube and continued into the undergrowth that was Aperture Science. If GLaDOS was indeed on Emergency Shut Down, she could wake up any minute and neurotoxin him in a nanosecond.

"Come on, we're going on an 'adventure.'"


	2. Chapter 1: New Perspective

**New Perspective**

"Say science!" A bright flash went off before my eyes. I was used to the flash by now; they'd taken my picture at least twenty times before. It always annoyed me how Aperture was so secretive, yet so blunt with their projects. The "Portal" project was simply described as that, something to tunnel through walls like "an inter-dimensional shower curtain." We had done it, but now what?

Black Mesa was already one step ahead of us, making the device on such a grander scale. Nobody really knew where said information came from, but that was irrelevant. The point was to beat Black Mesa at their game by commissioning a newer, bolder idea that was so crazy and convoluted that it might actually work. We had envisioned the ultimate Disc Operating System.

The GLaDOS project began from there. A monumental AI program was under development with the green light from the government. On the outside, it was the greatest achievement in science to ever behold. On the inside, it was another secret, another mystery of Aperture. There were so many mysteries in this place that I'm barely taking it all in. The logo for one thing, why an F-stop? Why not a beaker or a test tube or a picture of Cave's beloved moon rock collection? Perhaps Cave could have gone with something more suitable, but no, it's an f-stop for unknown reasons. Cave wasn't really a camera person and neither was Caroline. There were a total of three, maybe four, or so pictures of Cave scattered around the facility's underground testing areas.

I sat in the chair with no clue as to where the pictures are, even though I've been working at Aperture for years. See, another secret right there. What else is there...oh, the mystery of Cave and Caroline. Are they having an affair or what? Neither of them are married and they stare at each other often enough. Then there's the whole mystery as to why I'm here right now.

I'm an engineer for the turret production lines. To be honest, I'm terrified of those things despite the "innocent" little voices programmed into them. With the knowledge that they could kill you in ten seconds given the chance, I think I'm justified in my opinions. Oh wait, I developed that feature...you know, I never said I wasn't a hypocrite.

Alright, back to the bulk of the matter: why am I here? I don't belong down...wherever the heck I am. Shouldn't they get someone better for the job since I'm pretty certain that they are not looking for anyone like me? Hardly anyone likes me around the joint besides maybe Caroline, but she's nice to everyone. For all I know, she could be faking it all.

"Alright, just walk on through those doors and take the first right." the camera person (is that a man or a woman?) instructed. However, I picked up the boredom in their tone as well as utter disdain. See? I told you everyone hates me, even the people who've never met me before! Do I just have that face that everyone has to automatically hate or something?

Regardless, I wandered down the hallway and find the door. Of course, it has an f-stop painted on it...but it's not the current logo. Rather than being orange and kind of striped, it's bright blue and it has triangles forming it. Weird really, but t is slightly fitting. An f-stop is an aperture after all; I just don't get the point of naming a science facility after a camera part. To be honest, it kind of annoys me.

Hmm...It's the first door on the right? I wonder if there's one on the left. Curiosity gets the best of me and I swivel around on my feet, just to be greeted by yet another door. There's a keypad beside it, guess it is password required.

The door itself is slightly out of shape and the handle's already lost its silver shimmer. You can see the gold-tinted metal underneath the paint. It must have been opened a lot...but this is a new wing. Well, fairly new...maybe five years? Either way, there's probably something important behind it, something so very special.

Maybe I can hack the door! Let's see here...hmm...completely disregarding that I have no hacking experience what-so-ever, I'll just try some random numbers.

8675309

Nope, that didn't work. Maybe something shorter will open this thing.

24601

What? Come on!

4_19_11

I have no clue where that came from, but that's not it. Ah! What could it be? It's a simple nine digit keypad, what else would Aperture do? Wait a minute…I don't even know how many bloody numbers I need! Alright, calm down boy, just calm down. You can figure this out easily; you do logarithms in your sleep, you can crack a simple code.

11111

That's not it, but now I know it's more than 5 digits long. That's a start.

111111111

Ok, right amount of space, wrong numbers to use. Well, I'm getting along. Now, what would they use for key code? Maybe it's something to do with science or portals…or cake…or potato batteries. Who knows? Maybe it's a day of the week…Tuesday? Something's supposed to happen on Tuesday. The programming team said that the first test of the new DOS system would commence, but then again, they run on "programmer time." We still haven't seen that HL2: E3 project they were telling us about for years. The last I heard of it was a brief little blip during the summer, about June time. Other than that, nothing else has come out.

Wait, I just had it! It's not the delayed project; it's the on time one! The prototype of the GLaDOS program! Maybe, that might just work!

711141418

There it is! Aha! Oh, this is so cool! I just cracked a code at Aperture! Oh, I should probably open the door before it locks me out. Yeah, that'd be a good idea.

As quietly as I could, I twisted the knob and pushed against the door. Thankfully, it didn't make a squeak (unlike almost all the other doors in the bloody facility). Before I entered the room, I caught a glimpse of some white metal. Wait, weren't those the parts that everyone thought I lost?

Out of curiosity, I stepped into the room and turned on the lights. Once everything was visible, I couldn't help but gasp. The room was filled with boxes, large pieces of white metal, and huge electrical cords. Wow, this place is an engineer's heaven! Just…rows upon rows of equipment, the possibilities are endless!

Suddenly, a light flickered, which brought my attention to a large table in the corner. As I walked closer to the table, I could make out some sort of…blueprint. Once I was close enough, I picked up the blue sheet.

This…it's a blueprint for the GLaDOS project. I could have sworn they stopped when Cave Johnson died, since Caroline absolutely forbade any more work on it. Why would other scientists be working on a project that was completely cancelled by our higher-ups? Well, whatever the case, I need to tell Caroline about it.

Before I could even move an inch, a terribly loud noise filled my ear drums. Damn, I think I set off the alarms or something. Ah! No time to think about that now, I have to get out of here!

But then they came in.

Two figures slammed into me, pinning me to the ground within seconds. Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through my arm and I stopped my pathetic struggling (I never have been the most "in shape"). A gasp escaped my mouth as the pain spread to the rest of my body, making it feel as though my body were on fire. There is no way in hell that I'm running off on my own, and I think they know that too.

"Don't worry," one figure said, "you won't feel a thing in about half an hour or less."

"What…do you mean…by 'or less?'" I managed to spit out.

"We usually need less time than that to do a core transfer." the other replied.

"Wait a minute…those things…usually take an hour…to two hours."

"Not if you're doing them fast."

"But…that causes permanent…severe…brain damage. The…body can't take…the Emergency Coding in case…something goes…horribly…horribly wrong."

"We don't need to worry about that for you. Do you really expect us to let you go right now? You know way too much about the GLaDOS project and we can't have you telling Caroline about it at all. Besides, you're going to be useful for our experiment."

"What?"

"You see, we've done the numbers and stuff, but we need a real test subject. Something happened to the cats we were using and we still need to try it out on a human."

"Does…it…"

"Does it work? Yeah, it does. We just want to make sure we can do a full transplant. If it works on you, it'll work on Caroline. If your brain is destroyed in the process, we'll know exactly what bugs to work out."

"Wait!" Panic began to overtake me as the two lifted me up and dragged me towards the exit. Once we entered the hallway, they dragged me to the door I was supposed to enter in the first place.

"We need you as a sort of…control for the AI programming. If we can get your human half to dominate the AI program, then we'll know what to do for Caroline. Granted, her transplant will be longer and more carefully monitored."

"No! Stop it! Stop it now!" I screamed. Panic was quickly taking over the pain as I thrashed against their hold.

"Don't worry, when you wake up, you won't remember any of this." Those words made me stop in disbelief.

"What?"

"You see, for your transplant experiment to represent our control, you need to be completely reborn into a robot, as in, no previous prejudice, no emotional attachments, nothing. We need to work with an essential new 'person,' not the one we pulled out of the F-Stop room snooping around for the GLaDOS project." While I was prone from shock, I didn't notice that the two bound me to a chair. Well, I did, but I figured it out a little too late.

Imprisoned in the chair, I began to thrash around like a madman. Well, I kind of am a madman, but that's completely beside the point! I don't exactly know what they do to the workers in this room, but I know it can't be good. Nobody comes back after visit number three down here...and I've used up my strikes.

"No! Get away! Why would you even do this? What is there to gain? You know the process works! Why do you need me?" I shouted out in desperation. As usual, nobody listens since they don't care. Nobody cares about me at all, so maybe...this is for the better. Maybe I wasn't completely brainwashed when I signed up for this.

A piercing pain in my skull snapped me back to the present and a scream ripped through my throat. But wait-that's not my voice...it can't be my voice. How can it be my voice?

At 2:00 AM, I screamed bloody murder into the night. I've no flesh or blood anymore and the knowledge is quickly slipping out of my grasp. My optic snapped open and I swiveled it about frantically, trying to cool my overheating circuits. Now that has never happened before.

Alright, let's start by calming down first. Now, I'm in Chell's house on the rail she installed a year previous. I've been living with Chell for a year already after a decade in space with nothing but that bumbling Space Core for company. Oh, I'd rather forget that now. Moving on!

Black Mesa...it's a good place now. When I came back to Earth, some Black Mesa imposters got a hold of me in search of a sufficient AI program to jumpstart a manufacturing process so other rebel facilities could have one too...an AI supercomputer that is. They were going to mass produce me cheaply to take out the real Black Mesa facilities and to locate the Aperture Science facility. That was quite the crappy situation.

After almost dying two more times, Chell and I managed to escape and settle in this little house right near the real Black Mesa facility. All the workers there have welcomed me with open arms-er, power tools and built me a rail so I could move around.

A rustling sound from the other room broke apart my little trip down memory lane. I hope I didn't wake Chell. God, she can be so aggravating in the morning when she doesn't get enough sleep. Oh, there's another thing I noticed that I wish had never happened: Chell and I are growing apart.

The truth is…I love her. Yes, I am in love with a human and I've got no problem with it now. I've settled my past demons, for the most part, and accepted most of the facts. But Chell had implied that she wanted to stay friends and only friends for the time being. It worked out for a few months and everything was fine, but then that friendship we built back up just started...unraveling.

It started about five months ago, when she stopped taking me to work with her. I had asked her why, but she refused to answer beyond, "I'd like to have some time by myself." Alright, sure, I can understand wanting a bit of alone time. Personally, I'd rather be with someone…but that's probably due to the constant isolation I've faced for centuries. But then she started going to work early and coming home well after the sun had set. The only times we were together all day was on the week-ends. That soon changed to Sunday nights, and then only to the dead of night.

Basically, Chell's been ignoring me more and more without giving me some sort of reason as to why. There's this keyboard she uses to type her thoughts out to me, the really deep, intense, thought-provoking um...thoughts that can't really be expressed through body language alone. We used to converse all the time about the most random things, like food and maybe a bit about Aperture on occasion.

I always felt terrible when I couldn't tell her more than she had already known. There's not much to remember about the place in all honesty. That is, with the exception of "Bring You Daughter to Work Day."

Anyway, the nightmares started up about two months ago. Most of them are usually memories or "what ifs" from the year (or sometimes decade) before. You know, if I had died in space when Space Core and I were nearly off-lined by a meteor shower, or when those Black Mesa imposters shocked me beyond coherent thought, or when that bird nearly pecked me to death after I dumped its eggs down the door. Well, not really that last one but…you get the point.

The creaking of a door alerted me to her, Chell. Blearily, she rubbed her eyes before looking up at me on the rail. Even half-asleep, she still managed to raise an eyebrow and question my sanity while feigning full attentiveness. Oh, she's good…

"Um…good morning…uh…no need to be alarmed," I rambled after a second to compose my thoughts. "I just…it's something I have to deal with alone." She rolled her eyes at that sorry excuse and placed her hands on her hips. Way to get me completely cornered Chell. I swear; she's the only human who can intimidate me with a simple gesture such as placing one's hands on their hips. Right now, her body language is telling me, in a human's terms, "Bull shit."

"Alright fine, it was another nightmare, nothing I haven't dealt with before. You know; those old ones about getting killed by crazy sociopaths who want technology or electrocution…nothing major."

Chell continues to stare at me, completely seeing through my lie.

She gives me "the look" that basically says, "I'll believe you for now but I'm going to find out everything later when you're least expecting it." Once she closes the door, I let out a sigh. Why couldn't she love me back? Why have we been growing apart? I'm so desperately trying to gain a hold of those old feelings of friendship we had back when I apologized. Being just a friend instead of a lover is better than being in love with her while being ignored. I don't think that made any sense at all, but it's my mind and I think it makes some sense so there. Oh God, I really am crazy. I might as well try to go into sleep mode again.

What was that "dream" about anyway? I don't remember it at all or why it's of any importance to me. It feels like...I can't explain it, ethereal maybe with a hint of brutality. I don't know, as soon as it stopped it just…it felt like it got sucked into some sort of vortex in my mind and no matter how hard I try to get back there, I can't. It's like there's some sort of deadlock on there for the sole purpose of preventing me from knowing…something. Whatever the case, I'm telling Chell about it in the morning. Oh, it is morning...I'll tell her later today.

But I can stop but think about the one thing I remember from the dream. That word says so much and so little at the same time, but why? How can one simple word have that effect on me? It's not even scary, yet it chills me to the metaphorical bone.

What the bloody hell is an f-stop and why does it seem so significant?

Maybe by the time the sun comes up I'll have an answer. Hmm…there's absolutely no way I'm going back into sleep mode right now, might as well just wait for Chell to wake up for work again.

I was about to travel down my rail to another part of the house when I heard a knock on the door. Now who in bloody hell would visit someone at this time of night…uh, day…morning? Curiosity got the better of me and I went to the door. With my handle, I nudged the knob and pushed against the cool wood.

My optic widened in disbelief. No, no, no! This cannot be happening! I thought I'd never see a sign from _Her_ ever again! Oh, please let this be a trick of the processor.

But I knew it wasn't, I bloody knew. As much as I wanted to shrug it off as fake, I couldn't; it was impossible. Aperture Science was back in my life, as unwanted as it was. For there in the doorway, stood the two robots I thought Chell and I would never see again.

ATLAS nervously waved at me and P-Body hugged my frame. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see them, but…

Bloody. Flippin'. Hell.


End file.
